Mobile ad-hoc networks have become increasingly prevalent in situations where a supporting infrastructure is absent. A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a self-configured network of wireless and mobile nodes communicating via radio links. Such network does not rely upon a centralized administration to operate or include any pre-defined infrastructure. Such network is attractive in highly mobile situations such as in combat operations for a MANET is easy to deploy and again, does not require a supporting infrastructure.
In order to support a better network throughput as well as reduce interference and jammer susceptibility, MANETs require directional linkage. Providing reliable, adaptive, and flexible directional links for mobile platforms is associated with a variety of challenges. For instance, a conventional MANET may employ bootstrap slots to allow nodes to communicate their presence to other nodes within the network. In addition, such bootstraps may also be used to communicate neighboring nodes positions such that neighbors that are two or even three hops away from any given node are known by each node. FIG. 1 outlines a bootstrap and the placement of the bootstrap within an Orthogonal Domain Multiple Access (ODMA) frame. In such arrangement, only a few bootstraps are sent in each frame so that the remainder of the frame may be used for user traffic (as opposed to control traffic). The limitation of this configuration is that it may take several frames for all nodes in the network to get an opportunity to transmit their bootstraps. Anything that increases the duration of the bootstrap slot adds to control traffic and therefore, either reduces the user traffic per frame or the number of bootstrap data per frame which, in turn, reduces the dynamic responsiveness of the network to changes. An additional challenge facing wireless directional MANETs is the need to be compatible with Open System Interconnection (OSI) layered architectures and the ability to operate within existing and future antenna and antenna array technologies.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for efficient discovery of link directionality and maintenance of accurate beam angles or antenna selections between many mobile platforms.